Teaching Philosophy

I am passionate about exploring the intricacies of belonging, nationalism, and active citizenship through my travels, which cross various borders. This curiosity is reflected in the way I communicate both professionally and personally. I use critical rhizomatic approaches in my work as a teacher, researcher, and artist to understand how visible signs of belonging shape communities and can create and exclude Others.

Franz Fanon teaches us that our identity is shaped by the journey of going from our inner self to the outer world, and vice versa. The strengths and weaknesses of our identity (and power) depend on how we perceive this journey. As humans and other living beings, we naturally can't stay in one physical, mental, intellectual, and emotional state permanently. Instead, we constantly move between these states, sometimes willingly, and sometimes with resistance. This movement involves following and breaking rules. The push and resistance, the need to oscillate between order and chaos, conformity and freedom, familiarity and difference, can either enhance our creativity or be used to control us; And over time, it becomes difficult to determine how our own actions give meaning to our lives and where we are being influenced by external forces. It's all a matter of perspective, and a reminder to avoid promoting a single culture even when we are acting on well-intentioned theoretical ideas.

Trinh T Minha invites us on an acoustical journey, urging us to ponder how we can fully devote ourselves to a cause without losing our own identity. She suggests that we navigate the complexities of being both an outsider in a foreign land and a stranger in our own home. According to her, we should strive to be a crossroads or meeting point, where the act of representation itself becomes an essential part of the art we create. (An Acoustic Journey, p 13).

I work as a researcher, teacher, and artist, and I'm aware of how powerful and vulnerable these roles can be. This means I approach my work by looking at problems from different angles, thinking about leadership in ambilavent situations, and seeing active citizenship as a way to create inclusive and equitable educational processes. I believe in sharing knowledge without excluding nor uncritically appropriating from other cultures.

References:
Fanon, F. (2008). The Black man and language. In R. Philcox (Trans.), Black Skin, White Masks (Revised, pp. 1–23). Grove Press.
Minh-ha, T. T. (2010). Elsewhere, Within Here: Immigration, Refugeeism and the Boundary Event (1 edition). Routledge.

My teaching philosophy is shaped by the following key ideas.

Critical thinking: A practical and caring educational approach that values honesty, humility, politeness, fairness, and logical thinking. It encourages using theories and real-life examples to solve problems and make decisions, and promotes continuous learning by observing, analyzing, interpreting, reflecting, and evaluating actions. Critical thinkers understand the importance of examining life to prevent an unfair and unsafe world.
In education, critical thinking encourages students to actively participate and make decisions about their own learning. It involves asking questions like "why" and "how" instead of just focusing on "what." These strategies involve students in deeper thinking and connect their learning to real-life situations that matter to them.
Reference: Linda Elder, 2007. https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766            

Rhizomatic thinking: French scholars Deleuze and Guattari believed that ideas are connected and replicate themselves, with variations occurring when they encounter different surfaces and forms. Rhizomes grow outward without a hierarchy and the connections that create life ecologies are not always apparent. Rhizomatic thinking is an ecological approach to life and learning that recognizes the diverse nature of the world. It emphasizes relationships, possibilities, and the non-binary nature of the world.
A rhizomatic approach in education highlights the connection between what is taught, how it is taught, and why it is important. It also emphasizes the relationship between successful learning and how it applies to students' lives. This approach is especially valuable in the complex realities of modern life and the skills required to navigate it responsibly.

Comparative studies: An approach to understanding how knowledge is created and analyzed looks at how various social and cultural groups, like countries and educational systems, are similar or different. When we study something from a comparative perspective, we learn across different subjects and cultures. In teaching and learning, this approach helps us ask questions like "How do different cultures view and approach this issue?" and "What are the experiences of various cultures with this event or development?"

Borderland approaches: Gloria Anzaldua and other scholars acknowledge that spaces at and near physical, political, intellectual, and socio-cultural borders are places where different things can work together in symbiosis. Living in these borderlands means holding multiple identities within one person, being able to switch between different ways of understanding the world, like being bilingual or belonging to multiple national cultures. Speaking from these borderlands means talking about experiences of feeling marginalized and ignored, being displaced and feeling lost, but also being able to connect with more than one culture, using different ways of thinking and doing things, and understanding the importance of empathy in making connections across borders, both in the real world and online. In education, using a borderland approach helps us avoid seeing things as either/or and instead encourages multiple voices and perspectives in what we teach and how we teach it. This approach helps us find similarities and value differences as something positive and full of potential. It promotes thinking outside the box and not assuming what the outcome will be.

Ambivalence: Scholars in the field of language and culture have observed that people who speak different languages understand things differently. They argue that cultural influences affect how people interpret objects and events. This is especially true for individuals who are fluent in multiple languages and cultures. For them, meaning is often ambivalent, and perspectives can go beyond binary either/or choices. When someone from one culture encounters another, they may struggle to assign a fixed meaning to things. In education, understanding this ambivalence can help students realize that definitions and truths are not absolute, but rather influenced by culture. This understanding is important for students who have a bicultural or third-culture background, as it can boost their self-confidence. It also fosters empathy and understanding between students from different cultural backgrounds. Incorporating the concept of ambivalence into the curriculum encourages critical thinking by prompting students to question and articulate their understanding of information. This approach ultimately enhances communication skills by breaking down hierarchical distinctions between different forms of communication.